On Friday, June 16th WFLA News Channel 8 spent the day volunteering at Feeding Tampa Bay. June 16th marks Channel 8’s Founder’s Day of Caring, launched by parent company, Nexstar, to celebrate the anniversary of the organization. To commemorate Founder’s Day, Nexstar encourages employees to spend up to four hours volunteering at local charities. Thousands of Nexstar employees across the country participate in Founder’s Day volunteering each year.

This year, 82 WFLA employees came out to Feeding Tampa Bay to join the fight against hunger. The volunteers in the morning shift packed bags for the Feeding Tampa Bay DISH program, which provides fresh, healthy produce to homebound seniors. Bags included sweet potatoes, fresh fruit (like apples, pears, bananas, mangos, oranges), lettuce, and salad dressing. The bags are then delivered over the weekend directly to clients in need through our agency partners like Meals on Wheels.

Volunteers in the afternoon shift were in charge of sorting through nonperishable goods. The products had to pass a quality check and expiration approval before they were sorted into an appropriate category. All in all, WFLA volunteers provided 20,794 meals to the community in just one day of service.

Not only is Feeding Tampa Bay thankful for the help WFLA provided in our warehouse, but also for helping us spread the word about hunger in our community. If we do not see individuals struggling with hunger on a daily basis, it is easy to believe the issue does not exist; however, 1 in 7 adults and 1 and 4 children in the Tampa Bay area goes hungry every day. By drawing attention to this issue and recruiting champions of our mission, we can work together to feed our community.